The subject disclosure relates to vehicle seats, and more particularly relates to a low wear tip construction for a sliding flap on a vehicle seat.
One known vehicle seat is a fold and tumble vehicle seat that is movable from an occupant position to a stowed position. In particular, a seat back of the vehicle seat can be folded onto the seat cushion and the seat cushion can be flipped or rotated (i.e., tumbled) about a horizontal axis to the stowed position where an underside of the seat cushion forms an upwardly facing surface. Optionally, the vehicle seat can be tumbled into a recess defined in the vehicle floor and the underside surface can be flush with an adjacent surface (e.g., cargo floor).
One issue with these types of seats is that a gap can be formed between the inverted seat cushion and the adjacent floor surface. The gap can be unsightly and function undesirably as a crevice into which loose items can fall and not be easily retrieved without returning the vehicle seat to the occupant position. To deal with the gap, a seat flap is sometimes attached to an underside of the seat cushion. The seat flap covers the gap by bridging from the underside of the seat cushion to the adjacent vehicle floor surface. Thus, the flap spans over the gap hiding the gap and preventing objects from falling into the gap.
A problem with such seat flaps is that they are susceptibility to wear. In particular, the seat flap is typically formed of a high friction material (e.g., fabric or upholstery) and the floor surface over which the vehicle flap slides when the seat is moved between the occupant position and the stowed position is also typically formed of a high friction material (e.g., carpeting). When the seat is moved between the occupant and stowage positions, the fabric flap contacts can rub against the carpeted vehicle floor. This can cause wear, which ultimately results in diminished performance and appearance of the seat flap.